Duma to have second reading of bill banning adoption to foreign same-sex families

The amendment will be debated as part of a set of draft laws aimed at supporting orphans and encouraging adoptions by Russian families

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MOSCOW, June 17 (Itar-Tass) - The State Duma on Tuesday, June 18, will debate the bill that bans the adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex parents.

State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday, June 17, the Duma will “consider an amendment that bans adoptions by families in other countries that have legalised same-sex marriages.”

The amendment will be debated as part of a set of draft laws aimed at supporting orphans and encouraging adoptions by Russian families. They also raise the adoption allowance to 100,000 roubles.

On June 4, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told a news conference following the Russia-EU summit he would ink a law banning adoption by same-sex parents, if the parliaments adopts it.

Earlier, the Duma Committee on the Family, Women and Children advised the lower house to approve the amendment that bans the adopting Russian children by same-sex parents.

Fourteen countries of the world have allowed same-sex marriages. The latest to join them was France. On May 18, 2013, French President Francois Hollande signed the law legalising same-sex marriages.

Following the passage of the French law allowing same sex marriages and adoption of children by such pairs, Russia needs to “take a closer look” at the Russian-French agreement on adoptions, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.

“The document says in particular that the decision on the adoption of Russian children is made by Russian courts in accordance with Russian laws,” Karasin said at a joint meeting of the Duma committees on international relations and on the family, women and children on Thursday, June 13.

State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov called for a ban on the adoption of Russian children in countries where same-sex marriages are allowed.

“This is my personal position,” he told ITAR-TASS, but stressed that Russian children must not be allowed to be adopted by homosexual couples.

Pushkov said the adoption agreement with France will be revised, as a minimum, or even denounced.

“Since France has not ratified this document, our hands are free. I don’t think Russia needs this agreement more than France does,” he said.

The MP spoke against concluding agreements with countries that allow same-sex marriages. “We have considered the possibility of signing an adoption agreement at the initiative of the government of Iceland, but since this country allows same-sex marriages, I think this agreement is doomed. And this should become our general stance,” Pushkov said.

In his opinion, a ban on the adoption of Russian children in countries where same-sex marriages are allowed should be imposed by national legislation.

The chairperson of the Duma Committee on the Family, Women and Children, Yelena Mizulina, told ITAR-TASS that the lower house of parliament is ready to “solve the question of protecting Russian children at the level of national legislation” and several relevant draft laws have already been submitted to the Duma.

France has become the 114th country to have legalised same-sex marriages. The first marriage under the new law may be made already in June.

According to the State Duma, 278 Russian children were adopted in France in 2009; 304 in 2010; and 283 in 2011.

The bill’s other provisions are aimed at implementation of the state policy in protection of orphans and parentless children, in compliance with the presidential decree of December. First of all, the bill suggests raising the allowances from the present 13,087 roubles to 100,000 roubles. The allowance will be payable in cases where adopted are “disabled children, children over seven years of age, and children who are brothers or sisters.”